30,000 out of hospital cardiac arrests each year in the UK where emergency services attempt resuscitation. Sudden Cardiac Arrest can affect young and old alike, even the otherwise healthy can fall victim and should the worst happen, early and effective emergency response is one of the most critical survival factors.
Defibrillators or Automatic External Defibrillators (AED) are becoming more commonplace in rural locations because it is understood that the lifesaving potential is significant. Even in this context though when an emergency of this nature arises every minute is critical and our meets and THS are often some distance from the nearest community facility.
In view of this your committee has taken the decision to invest in a defibrillator. We will all be delighted if this AED was never required of course but should the need arise on a Sheffield DA event it is reassuring to know that we might be able to help.
Sheffield DA intends that our Automatic External Defibrillator (AED) will be available on our DA meets and THS and will be kept available for member and public use 24/7. There will be no expectation placed on stewards to keep the AED nor administer treatment, however where requested training will be provided: the DA will endeavour to ensure a volunteer is identified for each event and the location of the AED is made known.
For those interested the Mindray BeneHeart C1A fully automatic defibrillator is a fully automatic defibrillator; it is designed to support first-time rescuers, directing users step-by-step via prompts; it is switchable between adult and child mode; the unit is robust with a drop test to 1.5m (let’s not try that out though!); water/dust proof to IP55 means it should withstand even the dampest field; battery and pads have life cycle up to 5 years and the unit comes with a 8 year warranty.
This is a great specification AED and it does represent a significant investment for the benefit of members. The purchase of this AED has been entirely funded by the DA so your committee intends to dedicate some fundraising activity over the course of 2020 to cover some of the investment.
We hope you agree that this is a positive step towards safeguarding members camping with Sheffield DA.
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